I have a wonderful older Sawyer solo canoe. Prior to my ownership, the lexan tractor seat was repaired several times, but now it is failing, ie. cracking in several places, and needs replacement.
As Sawyer is no longer in business, does anyone know of the availability of a suitable replacement seat?
Failing the ablitiy to purchase a new lexan seat, any advice on repairing this tractor seat?
Thanks,
Ian
Sawyer Seat
Check with Scott at www.superiorcanoes.com
They are now making some select Sawyer models and may have a seat to sell you.
Otherwise, you may consider making a mold from your existing seat by covering it with shrink wrap and laynin up some fiberglass.
lexan seat repair
Ian,
I had a Sawyer lexan seat develop a significant crack a couple years ago. I fiberglassed the underside of the seat, extending the glass several inches on either side of the crack. Because the seat is cloudy, the repair is barely noticable. Thus far, the repair has held for a couple BWCA trips and numerous shorter outings.
Try a Wenonah
Why not buy a Wenonah seat? They’re pretty close to the Sawyer model.
Wenonah Bucket Seats
Wenonah makes two sizes of their bucket seat. One for tandems and solos with side mounted seats,and a smaller seat for their floor mounted pedestal. The seats were mades in fiberglass and kevlar and are now a molded plastic material.
If your Sawyer seat is a slider make sure to mention that to the Wenonah dealer you go to for the replacement seat. The fixed seat has the support tubes running side to side, the sliding seat has the support tubes under the seat running fore and aft.
Bill
Wenonah’s seats can be purchased
separately...without the sliding units attached. Make a middle-piece foundation for the seat at whatever angle...then just fit the seat onto/into it. Wenonah's alternative("Racing"?..forgot its name!) to their large solo seat(sliding) is a smaller, (kevlar? or carbon?) and felt nice & comfy to me when I had an Advantage...OR get one that'll fit a favorite pad(if you use one)... Not only did the smaller, more rectangular seat feel better when kneeling...I would imagine it would work a lot better with sit & switch...
$.01
Wenonah seats
I’ve installed Wenonah buckets into many Sawyer canoes. There is a little miss information given here so let me clarify, Wenonah offers two seat sizes, large and small. The large seats are plastic and come in tan, black, or gold (to math kevlar). They also offer a smaller racing seat which is made from Kevlar or Carbonfibre. The plastic bucket is similar to the Sawyer seat in dimensions. The bigest modification is that the tube spacing is narrower on the Wenonah than the Sawyer by several inches. No big deal for fixed seats. I would order the seat with cross tubing from Wenonah and you can specify the length you need. If you have a sliding seat, you can either rig a transition plate from the seat to the existing frame or do as I always have, remove all the frame work and replace it with Wenonah’s sliding seat assembly. It is not very expensive and the time saved is worth it in my opinion. You can retain the Sawyer mounting points to attach the Wenonah slider.